Comminuted Meat Products and Apparatuses and Methods for Producing Comminuted Meat Products

This application is a divisional and claims the benefit of U.S. application Ser. No. 17/963,407 filed Oct. 11, 2022, which claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e), of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/398,524 filed Aug. 16, 2022, entitled “COMMINUTED MEAT PRODUCTS AND APPARATUSES AND METHODS FOR PRODUCING COMMINUTED MEAT PRODUCTS,” the entire contents of these above-cited applications being incorporated herein by reference.

This disclosure relates to raw comminuted meat products such as ground beef for example, and to methods and apparatuses for producing raw comminuted meat products, including raw comminuted meat products having a target lean to fat proportion.

Comminuted meat products such as raw ground beef or ground pork for example have historically been produced by first deboning and trimming pieces of meat to produce pieces having approximately a desired lean-to-fat proportion by weight. These deboned and trimmed meat pieces were then diced and mixed in an effort to better distribute the meat fat throughout the mass of meat pieces. The mass of deboned, trimmed, diced, and mixed pieces of meat was then passed through a meat grinder one or more times to produce the ground meat product. A meat grinder used for this purpose includes a grinder plate and a blade that is driven to repeatedly sweep across openings in the grinder plate. In operation, a driving element such as an auger associated with the meat grinder forces the pieces of meat against the grinder plate openings so that portions of the meat enter the openings and then the blade passes across the openings to sever those portions of the meat that have entered the openings. As additional meat is forced against the grinder plate and into the plate openings, the previously severed material is displaced and ultimately forced out of the grinder plate openings as the ground meat product.

The lean-to-fat proportion of a comminuted meat product is commonly referred to as the lean point of the product. Governmental regulations may define a certain minimum lean point for a given product. For example, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulations currently specify a minimum lean point of 70/30 (70% lean/30% fat by weight) for a comminuted beef product to be labeled as “ground beef.” Current USDA regulations further require that ground beef must have a lean point of at least 90/10 to be labelled as “lean ground beef,” and a lean point of at least 95/5 to be labelled as “extra lean ground beef.” Products that have less than the labeled lean percentage by a defined margin of error are considered mislabeled and expose the producer to administrative penalties and potentially to liability from private civil action.

In addition to simply grinding meat pieces that have been trimmed to a desired lean-to-fat proportion, it is known from published European patent application EP1967082 and British patent GB2240252 to mix comminuted meat products at different lean points in a proportion to produce a desired target lean point. U.S. Pat. No. 7,169,421 shows mixing multiple streams of meat blends at potentially different lean points in the context of producing processed meat products such as bologna and hot dogs. In other examples, U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,666,456, 10,820,601, and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0377426, all by inventor Anthony J. M. Garwood, each describe systems for producing a comminuted meat product from an input material made up of meat pieces (such as beef trim which will be described below).

A problem with prior processes for producing comminuted meat products is that they are overly sensitive to, or unpredictably influence by, variations in the lean and fat content of the pieces of meat making up the input materials. The input material, whether provided in one stream or in multiple streams to be blended together, must have a known lean-to-fat proportion for the final product to have the desired target lean point. However, it is challenging to accurately measure the lean and fat content of individual pieces of meat as a continuous process. Modern ground meat production operations may resort to expensive and cumbersome X-ray and sorting apparatuses for measuring the lean and fat content of meat pieces. Ground meat producers are sometimes forced to make allowances to account for wide variations in the input lean and fat content to ensure a given ground meat product has at least the minimum lean content defined for the product. These allowances result in the ground product often having a significantly higher lean content than indicated by the product label. Having a higher lean content in a ground meat product than required for a labelled lean point represents an inefficient use of the input material. Higher than intended lean meat in a ground meat product may also adversely affect the organoleptic properties of the ground meat product or of a product in which the ground meat product is included.

The difficulty of accurately measuring the lean and fat content of a collection of individual meat pieces arises in large part from the nature of raw meat. Raw meat from cattle, hogs, fish, and poultry is made up of muscle fibers bound together with connective tissue. These muscle fibers are linked to other groups of muscle fibers or linked directly to the animal's bone structure. The bundles of muscle fibers making up meat typically contain approximately 20% protein and 75% water with the remaining 5% made up of intramuscular meat fat, carbohydrate, and minerals (all percentages by weight). In addition to intramuscular meat fat, meat fat is included in meat as depot fat located either between bundles of muscle fibers or as a subcutaneous layer often found along an edge of a cut of meat. At the temperatures at which cuts of raw meat may be chilled for storage, typically below 40° F., both intramuscular fat and depot fat are present in the meat as solid layers or masses of white or off-white material. Both the irregularity in which fat is present in raw meat either as intramuscular fat or depot fat and the variability of the fat content from one piece of raw meat to the next contribute to the difficulty in accurately determining the overall lean and fat content of a collection of raw meat pieces.

Another issue in the meat processing industry that stems from the nature of meat is that of maximizing the amount of lean harvested as raw (uncooked/undenatured) lean meat from the animal carcass. An animal carcass is typically processed by first breaking the carcass down into primal cuts that are trimmed and divided further to produce individual cuts of meat such as filets, steaks, and roasts. The trimming needed to produce primal cuts and then individual cuts of meat produces a large quantity of edible trim material that includes lean meat and fat. This trim material is commonly sorted by processing facilities based on its approximate lean content. In the U.S. beef processing industry for example, the least lean of the edible trim is commonly referred to as extra-fat (XF) trim that is roughly 30% lean. Beyond XF trim, beef trimmings in U.S. beef processing operations are commonly sorted into 50% lean beef trim and into 65% lean beef trim. It is estimated that XF trim from modern trimming operations represents about 10.5 percent of the weight of the carcass, while 50% lean beef trimmings and 65% lean beef trimmings represent about 9% and 1 to 2% of the carcass weight, respectively.

The variability in lean and meat fat content in pieces of trim made it difficult to combine trim to produce a target lean point without using excessive allowances as described above to ensure the final product had the desired lean point. For example, in a stream of 50% lean beef trim pieces carried along a conveyor or through a conduit, a given cross section through the stream of material may pass through one or more pieces of trim and mostly meat fat with only very thin layers of lean meat. Even within this given cross section, the lean meat may be concentrated in a small area of the cross section and at any location within the cross section. Due to the essentially random manner in which the pieces of trim may be arranged in the stream of material and the uneven distribution of lean throughout a given piece of trim, another cross section through the material may pass through much more lean meat and much less meat fat with each type of material again distributed unevenly across the cross section. Thus a given quantity of meat pieces making up 50% lean beef trim may have an actual lean and fat content that varies significantly from 50% lean.

Another issue that arises with any ground meat product is the risk of contamination with pathogens such as certain strains ofand, for example. While whole muscle meat products such as steaks may, in the course of processing or handling prior to cooking, be contaminated with dangerous pathogens, the pathogens will typically reside only at the surface of the product and are killed or deactivated in the process of applying cooking heat to the meat outer surfaces. By contrast, any dangerous pathogens that may be on the surface of a piece of meat used to make a ground meat product could be distributed by the grinding process throughout the ground product. Thus it is recommended that ground meat products be thoroughly cooked to a pathogen killing or deactivating temperature prior to consumption.

The processes and systems described below can be implemented to precisely achieve a desired target lean point in a raw comminuted meat product even if the lean and fat content of the input materials is unknown or unpredictably varies. Also, embodiments described below can increase the likelihood of maximizing the amount of lean harvested as raw lean meat from the input materials (e.g., edible trim material that includes lean meat and fat) while advantageously reducing the likelihood of pathogen contamination within the comminuted meat product. Additional embodiments can further provide articles employed in processes of raw comminuted meat production and provide raw comminuted meat products produced according to these processes.

The following definitions will be applied to terminology employed in this disclosure and the accompanying claims. A “comminuted” meat product refers to a meat product that has been cut into pieces by grinding (as in a meat grinder), chopping (as in a bowl chopper), by cutting or chopping by hand with a suitable knife, or by any other process. Thus examples of comminuted meat products include raw ground beef, pork, lamb, chicken, and turkey. Additional examples of comminuted meat products include pieces of meat cut from a beef, pork, lamb, or poultry carcass. The designation “meat” refers to meat derived from any animal including mammals, fish and other seafoods, and birds, regardless of fat content. This includes ground meats such as ground beef and comminuted beef at a lower lean point than the lean point required for labeling as ground beef as described above, regardless of the size of constituent pieces and regardless of whether seasonings and other non-animal derived materials are present in the product. “Meat” also includes comminuted pork, lamb, poultry, and seafood in addition to combinations of species. “Lean meat” means meat constituents other than fat. “Lean meat” includes in particular the muscle fibers and connective tissues in meat together with water and minerals in the muscle fibers and connective tissue but excludes hard material such as bone and tendons. “Raw” as used with reference to lean meat means without significant protein denaturation so that the material essentially retains the physical characteristics of uncooked lean meat. “Meat fat” means any fat constituent of meat.

Methods according to a first aspect of this disclosure include receiving a stream of input material made up of pieces of meat and using raw lean meat and meat fat from the input material to produce a target comminuted meat product having a target lean point, that is, a target lean meat to meat fat proportion. The methods include separating a first material and a second material from the stream of input material. The first material is separate from the second material and includes liquified meat fat, while the second material includes raw lean meat. “Liquified meat fat” is used in this disclosure and the accompanying claims to describe meat fat in a state that conforms to a container in which the meat fat is contained. The liquified meat fat may be present in the first material with liquids (such as water for example) that were included in the pieces of meat making up the input material. Suspended materials and materials in solution or in emulsified form may also be present in the first material together with the liquified meat fat. Methods according to this first aspect further include forming meat fat granules from a portion of the first material. These methods further include combining a quantity of the meat fat granules at a meat fat blending temperature with a quantity of the second material at a lean meat blending temperature to produce a target comminuted meat product at a target lean point. The term “portion” is used here and elsewhere in this disclosure and the following claims to mean “at least some.” That is, a portion of a given material may comprise all of the material or some fraction of the total amount.

The combination of separating out the liquified meat fat and raw lean meat from the input material and then using the two separated materials in the target comminuted meat product in accordance with the first aspect has the advantage of efficiently using the available lean meat from the input material. Thus the methods according to this aspect make very efficient use of the animal carcass. This overall efficiency can effectively reduce the number of slaughtered animals needed to produce a given amount of comminuted meat product from the animals and thus can reduce the resources required for producing a given amount of the comminuted meat product. Forming the first material containing the liquified meat fat into meat fat granules (discrete pieces of meat fat) allows the meat fat to be evenly distributed in the second material to produce the target comminuted meat product. Separating the meat fat and raw lean meat from the input material in accordance with the first aspect described herein also makes it unnecessary to employ complicated and expensive equipment to measure the lean and fat content of pieces of meat.

While the separation processes that can be used in various implementations described herein may be highly effective, they may not completely separate the meat fat from raw lean meat. The first material separated from the stream of input material may be substantially free of lean meat. By “substantially free of lean meat” it is meant (in this disclosure and the accompanying claims) that the content of lean meat in the first material is no more than approximately 1%. The lean meat content in the first material may be less than the content considered “substantially free of lean meat,” for example, the first material may contain no more than approximately 0.5% lean meat, and in some cases no more than approximately 0.1% lean meat. The first material may alternatively be described herein as “consisting essentially of liquified meat fat” to describe a lean meat content in the first material. “Consisting essentially of liquified meat fat” refers to a material that has a sufficiently high liquified meat fat content and sufficiently low content of other meat constituents that the material retains at least the visual characteristics of meat fat.

Similarly, although the second material separated from the stream of input material in methods according to the first aspect includes raw lean meat, the second material will likely include some meat fat content in at least some implementations. In some implementations according to the first aspect, for example, the lean meat to meat fat proportion of the second material may be no less than approximately 94% so that the meat fat content of the second material may be as high as 6%. Regardless of the specific lean meat content in the first material and the specific meat fat content in the second material, the fat and lean content of each material is precisely controllable through the separation process or processes and may be held substantially constant over the time required to produce a given amount of target comminuted meat product. Thus the first and second materials may be combined in implementations described herein without having to account for the variability in lean and fat content of trimmed meat pieces making up the input material or smaller meat pieces formed from the input material pieces.

It should be noted here that numerical values set forth in this disclosure and the accompanying claims such as the content percentage values described above and the length values and temperature values described below are approximate values and are not strict boundaries. These approximate values are intended to encompass variations that are functionally similar. At a minimum, numerical values include variations that, using mathematical and industrial principles accepted in the art (e.g., rounding, measurement or other systematic errors, manufacturing tolerances, etc.), would not vary the least significant digit. All content percentage values set out in this disclosure and the following claims are by weight. For example, one hundred pounds of the first material containing a 1% lean meat content includes one pound of lean meat.

Forming meat fat granules from a portion of the first material may include cooling the first material to form solidified meat fat and then forming the meat fat granules from the solidified meat fat. The meat fat granules may be formed from the solidified meat fat by forcing portions of the solidified meat fat through grinder plate openings and periodically driving a blade over the grinder plate openings.

The meat fat granules may individually have a maximum dimension of no more than approximately 0.75 inches along any axis. Some implementations may include meat fat granules having smaller dimensions to help facilitate distribution of the meat fat throughout the target comminuted meat product. For example, in some implementations the meat fat granules may individually have a maximum dimension of no more than approximately 0.375 inches along any axis through the meat fat granule. As another example, and particularly in implementations in which the target comminuted meat product is packaged without a further comminuting step, the meat fat granules may individually have a maximum dimension of no more than approximately 0.50 inches along any axis or alternatively no more than approximately 0.25 inches or, as a further alternative, no more than approximately 0.125 inches. Still other implementations may include meat fat granules in two or more different and non-overlapping maximum dimension ranges.

Implementations in accordance with the first aspect may include many variations regarding the meat fat blending temperature and the lean meat blending temperature. Generally, both the meat fat blending temperature and the lean meat blending temperature should be low enough that meat fat from the meat fat granules does not smear in the process of combining the meat fat granules and second material. In some cases, the meat fat blending temperature may be no greater than 0° F. while the lean meat blending temperature may be no greater than approximately 26° F.

In some implementations of a method in accordance with the first aspect, the method may include separating a first component and a second component from the stream of input material. The first component here includes a fibrous raw lean meat constituent while the second component includes both a liquid raw lean meat constituent and the first material (including liquified meat fat). In reference to the liquid raw lean meat constituent separated from the input material as described herein, the term liquid means that the material is in a form that conforms to a container in which the material is placed. The liquid raw lean meat constituent may include water present in the meat pieces making up the input material, material in solution, emulsions, and suspended solids. Where the first and second components are separated, the method may further include separating the first material and the liquid raw lean meat constituent from the second component. In these methods, the second material used to mix with the meat fat granules to produce the target comminuted meat product is made up of the fibrous raw lean meat constituent and the liquified raw lean mean constituent that have been combined back together to form the second material. These two raw lean meat constituents may be combined to form the second material prior to combining with the meat fat granules.

Methods that separate out the fibrous raw lean meat constituent, the liquid raw lean meat constituent, and first material have the advantage of being able to better tailor an antimicrobial treatment to the given material. For example, because the first material separated from the stream of input material preferably does not contain any significant level of raw lean meat, the meat fat can be raised to a suitable antimicrobial temperature for an extended period of time without any concern for denaturing any significant quantity of proteins to be included in the target comminuted meat product. At least a portion of the raw lean meat comprising the second material may also be heat pasteurized without denaturing the protein as will be described further below. Methods in accordance with the first aspect may include antibacterial treatments in addition to or alternatively to heat pasteurization. For example, some implementations may include raising the pH of the raw lean meat comprising the second material prior to combining with the meat fat granules.

A second aspect of this disclosure encompasses apparatuses for producing comminuted meat products. An apparatus according to this second aspect includes an input heat exchange system connected to receive a stream of input material that includes pieces of meat. The input heat exchange system is operable to heat the input material and produce a separation input material. This separation input material comprises a mixture of liquified meat fat and raw lean meat derived from the input material. A separator system is connected to receive a portion of the separation input material and to separate from that material a first material and a second material as described above in connection with the first aspect. A raw lean meat heat exchange system is connected to receive a portion of the second material from the separator system and is operable to cool the received second material, in some embodiments to the lean meat blending temperature. A meat fat granule production system is operable to receive the first material and produce meat fat granules. An apparatus according to this second aspect also includes a mixing system adapted to receive a quantity of the meat fat granules at the meat fat blending temperature and the second material at the lean meat blending temperature and mix the materials to produce a target comminuted meat product having a target lean point.

In some implementations according to this second aspect, the separator system includes two separators that operate in series to ultimately produce the first material and second material. In these implementations, a first separator in the system may be a decanter centrifuge and second separator in the system may be a centrifugal separator. The decanter centrifuge is connected to receive the separation input material and is operable for separating the first component (as described above) and the second component (as described above) from the received stream of separation input material. The centrifugal separator is connected to receive the second component from the decanter centrifuge and is operable for separating the first material and the liquid raw lean meat constituent from the received second component.

In some of these implementations, the apparatus further includes a heat pasteurization system connected to receive at least some of the liquid raw lean meat constituent. This heat pasteurization system may be specifically adapted for treating liquid raw lean meat and is operable to heat pasteurize the received liquid raw lean meat constituent while maintaining the material in the raw, undenatured state. A second heat pasteurization system may also be connected to receive a portion of the first material to heat pasteurize the meat fat to be included in the target comminuted meat product. A third heat pasteurization system specifically tailored to heat pasteurize the fibrous raw lean meat constituent may be connected to receive that constituent from the decanter centrifuge. Other implementations may include a heat pasteurization system adapted to heat pasteurize the fibrous raw lean meat constituent and liquid raw lean meat constituent after these constituents have been combined back together to produce the second material that is ultimately mixed with the meat fat granules to produce the target comminuted meat product.

Some implementations according to this second aspect employ a fat granule production device in the form of a grinder that forms the meat fat granules after the first material has been cooled to a solidified state. Additional details on suitable grinder devices will be described further below in connection with the representative embodiments.

A third aspect of this disclosure encompasses additional methods for producing a raw comminuted meat product. Methods according to this third aspect include receiving a stream of input material made up of pieces of meat and separating a first material and a second material from the stream of input material. The first material is separate from the second material and includes meat fat that is substantially free of lean meat, while the second material includes raw lean meat and has an essentially homogeneous lean meat and meat fat content. “Essentially homogeneous lean meat and meat fat content” as used here and in the accompanying claims means that any reasonable sample size of the material (for example, any given pound of the material) has a consistent lean meat and meat fat content (for example, varies by no more than approximately 1%) regardless of where the sample is taken in the material. For example, for a given 100-pound mass of second material in accordance with this third aspect, a 1 pound sample taken at a first point within the 100-pound mass may have a lean point of approximately 94/6 while a 1 pound sample taken at a second point within the 100-pound mass at any distance from the first point may have a lean point also of approximately 94/6. The lean meat to meat fat content variation from one point to another in the second material may alternatively have a lower value than approximately 1% such as 0.5% or 0.1% for example. Methods according to this third aspect further include forming meat fat granules from a portion of the first material including the substantially raw lean meat free meat fat. These methods further include combining a quantity of the meat fat granules at a meat fat blending temperature with a quantity of the second material at a lean meat blending temperature to produce a target comminuted meat product at a target lean meat to meat fat proportion, that is, a target lean point.

As with methods according to the first aspect described above, the first material may include a lean meat content at less than approximately 0.5%, or more preferably 0.1%. The lean meat to meat fat proportion in the second material separated according to this third aspect may be no less than approximately 94% in some embodiments or may consist essentially of raw lean meat.

Forming the meat fat granules in embodiments according to the third aspect may include forcing solid meat fat through a grinder as described above in connection with the first aspect. Regardless of how formed, the meat fat granules may have a dimension of no more than approximately 0.75 inches along any axis or more preferably no more than approximately 0.375 inches along any axis. Alternatively, the meat fat granules may have a dimension of no more than approximately 0.50 inches along any axis or more alternatively no more than approximately 0.25 inches along any axis, or alternatively no more than approximately 0.125 inches along any axis. Methods according to the third aspect may include a meat fat blending temperature of no greater than approximately 0° F. and a lean meat blending temperature of no greater than approximately 26° F. Additionally, the separation steps and heat pasteurization steps described above in connection with the first and second aspects of this disclosure apply as well to methods according to this third aspect.

Additional aspects in this disclosure encompass comminuted meat products produced by the methods described above in connection with the first and third aspects and by apparatus described above in connection with the second aspect. In some embodiments, these comminuted meat products are distinguished from prior comminuted raw meat products in that at least some of the meat fat content of the product is in the form of meat fat granules formed from material separated from the stream of input material that also provides the lean meat content of the product. In further embodiments, a comminuted meat product produced by a method described above in connection with the first, second, or third aspects may be distinguished by the low lean meat content of the meat fat granules as described above and the low meat fat content beyond the meat fat content provided by the meat fat granules.

A further aspect of this disclosure encompasses articles produced in the course of performing the various methods described above. Such an article includes a quantity of meat fat granules as described above in connection with various embodiments. Such an article also includes a quantity of a lean material such that the quantity of lean material in proportion to the quantity of meat fat granules represents a target proportion of lean meat to meat fat. This lean material consists essentially of raw lean meat that has been separated from the stream of input material made up of pieces of meat. With reference to the lean material according to this further aspect of the disclosure, consisting essentially of raw lean meat means that the lean material includes a lean meat to meat fat proportion high enough so that the material can be mixed with the meat fat granules to produce the target proportion of lean meat to meat fat. In some embodiments, the lean meat to meat fat proportion of the lean material is no less than approximately 94%. In some embodiments, the meat fat granules in the product make up no less than one-half of the overall fat content of the product.

These and other advantages, features, and aspects will be apparent from the following description of representative embodiments, considered along with the accompanying drawings.

Referring to, an example comminuted meat production systemincludes generally an input and separation portion shown in dashed boxand a combining portion shown in dashed box. The input and separation portionof apparatusincludes an input material supply, a breaking device, a tempering system, a tempering system, and two separate separatorsand. The overall function of this input and separation portionof systemis to condition an input material made up of meat pieces and to separate out a stream of meat fat and a stream of raw lean meat that may each have a substantially constant meat fat and lean meat content.

In the example systemshown in, input material supplymay comprise a suitable conveyor system conveying pieces of meat trim to breaking device. The pieces of meat trim may vary widely in terms of lean-to-fat proportion. For example, when the systemis applied to produce a comminuted beef product, a conveyor of the input material supplymay convey at any given point in time, XF trim, 50% lean beef trim, or 65% lean beef trim. Raw lean meat from any of these types of trim may be incorporated into the same final comminuted meat product.

Breaking devicemay comprise a coarse grinder device that is adapted to receive input material and to perform an initial commutation to reduce the input material to smaller pieces suitable for further treatment in the system. Such a grinder may drive the pieces of meat trim to a grinder plate having uniformly sized plate openings from 0.25 inch to 1.5 inches in diameter, for example. Tempering systemcomprises a suitable device or arrangement of devices for increasing the temperature of the comminuted input material received from breaking deviceto a separation temperature. For example, tempering systemmay include a tube in shell heat exchanger operably connected to receive the comminuted input material from breaking deviceand gently increase the temperature of the material while maintaining the lean meat constituents in a raw state. A suitable separation temperature for input material comprising beef trim may range from 90° F. to 105° F. for example. At this separation temperature, substantially all of the meat fat in the heated material is in a liquified state while the entire spectrum of proteins in the lean meat from the comminuted beef trim remains undenatured.

The mixture of liquified fat and raw lean meat (which may be referred to as a separation input material) from tempering systemis directed in systemto an input portof separator. Separatorin this example system is a solid/liquid separator operable to separate the mixture received at input portinto a first component that exits separatorat a first component output portand a second component that exits separatorat a second component output port. The first component includes a fibrous raw lean meat constituent of the raw lean meat in the input material and represents one of multiple inputs to the combining portionof systemin. The second component from portincludes a mixture of both a liquid raw lean meat constituent of the raw lean meat in the input material and liquified meat fat from the input material, and is directed first to tempering systemand then to an input port of centrifugal separator. Tempering systemfunctions to temper the material from portof separatoras necessary to a suitable temperature for separation in separator, still a temperature at which the lean meat content in the material remains in a raw state. Separatoroperates to separate the second component material into a stream of the liquid raw lean meat constituent and a stream of liquified meat fat. The stream of liquid raw lean meat constituent exits separatorthrough output portwhile the stream of meat fat exits separatorthrough output port. In this example system, both of these streams of material, the stream of liquid raw lean meat constituent from output portand the stream of liquified meat fat from output port, represent additional inputs to the combining portionof systemshown in.

The input and separation portionof apparatuscan be implemented to advantageously use the high fat content trim left over from trimming operations (which is often available at a lower price than higher lean trim in terms of lean content). For example, the input and separation portionof apparatuscan use XF trim at 30% lean content as an input stream, but as detailed below, the apparatus can output a comminuted meat product at a target lean point that is precise and far higher than 30%. In such embodiments, the ability of the apparatusto use a variety of high fat content trim from trimming operations enables the producer here to employ some of the most cost-effective input materials.

The combining portionof example systemincludes a respective antimicrobial processing system for each of the streams of material comprising an input to the combining portion. Antimicrobial processing systemreceives the stream of first component (the fibrous raw lean meat constituent) from separator, antimicrobial processing systemreceives the stream of liquid raw lean meat constituent from separator, and antimicrobial processing systemreceives the stream of liquified meat fat from separator. Each of these antimicrobial processing systems,, and, may be specifically adapted for the particular input material as will be described further below.

In this example systemshown in, the liquid raw lean meat constituent after processing in antimicrobial systemis combined with the fibrous raw lean meat constituent exiting antimicrobial processing systemin a lean meat blending system. Lean meat blending systemcomprises a suitable blender device such as a twin paddle blender and is operable to recombine the fibrous raw lean meat and liquid raw lean meat to form a mixture comprising a stream of raw lean meat directed to tempering system. This tempering systemis adapted to reduce the temperature of the raw lean meat to a suitable blending temperature for the material, that is, a lean meat blending temperature. The raw lean meat at the lean meat blending temperature exits tempering systemand is then directed to mixing systemthrough a conduit shown atinand enters the mixing system through a raw lean meat input port. A mass flow meteris included in the path from tempering systemto mixing systemin this example system. Mass flow metermay comprise a Coriolis effect type meter or any other suitable meter for measure the mass flow to mixing system.

At least a portion of the liquified meat fat exiting antimicrobial processing systemis directed to a tempering systemfor the meat fat. Because the amount of meat fat needed for combining with the lean meat is commonly much less than the amount of meat fat produced from the separation system comprising separatorsand, some of the liquified meat fat may be diverted from tempering systemthrough a diversion system shown atin. This diversion of excess liquified meat fat will be described further below in connection with. Tempering systemreduces the temperature of the meat fat received from antimicrobial processing systemto form solidified meat fat. The solidified meat fat is then directed to granule forming systemwhich produces granules of solid meat fat of a desired size or within a desired size range for introduction at the meat fat blending temperature into mixing system. These meat fat granules are directed to mixing systemthrough a conduitto a meat fat granule input port.

Mixing systemcomprises a suitable mixing or blending device that includes a mixing vessel defining a mixing volume for receiving the raw lean meat from lean tempering systemand meat fat granules from granule forming systemin proportions necessary to result in the target lean point for the final comminuted meat product. This mixing vessel may include a conduit where mixing systemcomprises an inline mixing system. The proportion control (weight proportion of raw lean meat to meat fat) needed to result in the target lean point may be provided through mass flow meters such as metershown inand mass flow meterdescribed below in connection with. In the mass flow meter arrangement, the mass flow meters measure the mass of material entering the mixing vessel of mixing systemto ensure the desired weight proportion between the raw lean meat and meat fat. Alternative proportion control arrangements will be described further below in connection with. The example systemshown inincludes a final grinding systemoperatively connected to receive the mixed raw lean meat and meat fat granules from mixing systemand perform a final grind. The material at the output of final grinding systemcomprises a comminuted meat product (PRODUCT OUT in) at the product target lean meat to meat fat proportion (target lean point) and that is visually and functionally similar to ground meat product produced according to traditional methods. As described in more detail below, some embodiments of the comminuted meat product can be processed in a manner that effectively eliminates pathogen contamination and achieves a raw meat product that remains shelf-stable for a period of time (multiple days for example) even when unrefrigerated.

It will be appreciated that the systemshown schematically inwill include numerous devices such as valves and manifolds for controlling and regulating the flow of the various streams of material through the system. Downstream from breaking device, materials may be transported from one device or system to the next through suitable conduits. Suitable pumping devices may be included in the various processing devices or outside of those devices for moving the various streams of material through the system. Additional flow paths and control elements and devices may be required for periodic clean in place operations at various parts of system. All these flow control and facilitating devices and their respective connectors and fittings are omitted from the figure to avoid obscuring features of the illustrated embodiments in unnecessary detail.

It should also be appreciated that the arrangement of devices and systems shown inmay be varied significantly while remaining within the scope the various aspects of this disclosure and the various implementations described herein. For example, although systemis shown as including breaking device, some implementations of the system may receive an input material that is already sufficiently comminuted for tempering and separating into the stream of meat fat and stream of raw lean meat. Such systems may dispense with breaking device. Where a breaking device such as deviceis included in the system, any suitable comminuting device may be employed. A meat grinder as described above is desirable for use as breaking devicebecause it is amenable to continuous operation to provide a continuous stream of comminuted input material for further processing. Other implementations may include a comminuting device such as bowl chopper to provide the breaking function in a batch operation mode as opposed to continuous operation. Still other implementations may include a device for removing bone from the input material. Including bone removal in the process may allow the input material to include bone-in material. In these implementations the bone removal function can be incorporated in breaking deviceor performed by a separate deboning device.

Another variation on the system shown inrelates to the output from mixing system. Although grinder systemis shown in, other embodiments of the system may not grind the output of mixing system. In these alternate systems, the output of mixing system may be directed to a chub packaging system or other type of packaging system for packaging the target comminuted meat product.

Some implementations of systemmay also include additional processing components. For example, the stream of comminuted input material may include sinew that is advantageously removed prior to processing through the separator(s). Such a desinewing device may be included in the system at an appropriate location such as just upstream of tempering system. Where the input material supply includes bones, some embodiments of systemmay additionally include a device or system suitable for separating bone from the input material. Alternatively, one of the devices shown in systemmay be adapted also for separating out bone and other hard material.

Also, although the illustrated systeminincludes two separate separators to produce the stream of meat fat and the material forming the stream of raw lean meat, any separation system or technology now known or developed in the future may be used to produce these two streams of material from which the final comminuted meat product is produced. In some embodiments, a single separation device could be used to produce the first material and second material described herein.

Where multiple separators are employed such as shown in, separatormay comprise a decanter centrifuge and separatormay comprise a centrifugal separator. A decanter centrifuge includes a housing that is rotated about a typically horizontal axis at high speed with a scroll mounted within the housing and rotating at a speed slightly different from the housing rotational speed. An input mixture of liquids and solids introduced into the housing though a passage in the center of the scroll is accelerated by the rotating housing causing heavier material from the mixture to collect at the inside surface of the housing with lighter material remaining inward of the housing inside surface. Auger flights on the scroll move solids in the collected heavier material to a solids outlet, while the liquids from the input mixture migrate to a liquid outlet. In the example system shown in, output portmay comprise the liquid outlet of a decanter centrifuge while output portmay comprise the solids outlet of the decanter centrifuge.

A centrifugal separator comprises a housing commonly referred to as a “bowl” or “drum” that is rotated about a typically vertical axis at high speed. A mixture of relatively heavy and light liquid constituents introduced into the bowl is accelerated by the rotation of the bowl causing the heavier liquid constituents to collect at the maximum diameter of the bowl and the lightest constituents to migrate toward the center of the bowl. In some cases the migration of lightest constituents toward the center of the bowl may be aided by angled disks mounted in the bowl and rotating with the bowl. The heavier liquid constituents collected at the outer portion of the bowl (relative to the axis of rotation) may be removed by periodically opening the bowl or continuously through suitable pathways while the light constituents may be removed from an area in the bowl nearest the axis of rotation by suitable means such as a centripetal pump integrated with the separator. In the example system, output portof separatormay comprise the heavier liquid (liquid raw lean meat) outlet(s) from pathways of a centrifugal separator and output portmay comprise the lighter liquid material (liquified meat fat) output of the centrifugal separator.

Although systemshown inincludes antimicrobial systems,, and, other implementations may include no such antimicrobial systems. However, antimicrobial processes are desirable in a comminuted meat production system given the possibility of pathogenic microbes inadvertently distributed in the comminuted material during processing. An advantage of systemis that by separating the comminuted input material to produce separate streams of liquified meat fat, fibrous raw lean meat constituent, and liquid raw lean meat constituent, antimicrobial systems may be selected and operated according to operating parameters that are most suitable for the given stream of material, both in terms of efficacy and cost-effectiveness. For example, the antimicrobial processing systemfor the liquified meat fat may comprise a heat exchange system operable to heat the meat fat to a suitable temperature for killing or deactivating pathogenic microbes, and this heat exchange system may operate in parallel (and perhaps contemporaneously with) the antimicrobial processing systemthat employs a heat pasteurization process that pasteurizes the liquid raw lean meat without denaturing the material. Where the stream of liquified meat fat includes only low amounts of meat protein from the input material, no special treatment is required in heating the meat fat to avoid denaturing any constituent that would be added to the final comminuted meat product.

Antimicrobial processing systemfor the liquid raw lean meat constituent may comprise the heat pasteurization apparatuses and processes as described below in connection with. These heat pasteurization apparatuses and processes may also be used for antimicrobial processing systemin connection with the fibrous raw lean meat constituent from outlet portof separator. As will be described below in connection with, the parameters, both operating parameters and structural parameters, employed in each systemandmay be tailored so the material being heat pasteurized. Thus the two different types of raw lean meat constituents (liquified and fibrous) may each be pasteurized under a different set of pasteurization parameters.